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Meili Tianyuan’s 2025 performance delivered strong growth, a victory for a high-end differentiated strategy and large-scale integration.

Produced by | China Interview Network

Reviewed by | Li Xiaoyan

On March 27, Meili Tianyuan Medical and Health (02373.HK) held its 2025 performance briefing and turned in an unexpectedly strong report: full-year revenue of RMB 3 billion, up 16.7% year over year; adjusted net profit of RMB 380 million, up sharply 41% year over year; gross margin rising to 49.1%; net operating cash flow of RMB 1 billion; cash reserves of RMB 2.59 billion. Against the backdrop of mounting pressure in the aesthetic medical industry and frequent price wars, the company adopted a differentiated strategy of “not engaging in price wars,” relying on a dual-engine drive of organic growth and M&A. Its store footprint surpassed 700, with Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen contributing over 65% of revenue, making it a benchmark for high-end transformation and large-scale integration in the beauty industry.

In 2025, Meili Tianyuan achieved “three full harvests”—revenue, profit, and cash flow—driven by clear core growth momentum. The revenue structure was optimized, with synergy from double beauty initiatives gaining traction: revenue from beauty and wellness services reached RMB 1.66 billion (+14.9%); 1.724 million visits from direct-operated customers; 146k active members; average annual spending of RMB 9,738, highlighting strong stickiness among high-net-worth segments. Revenue from consumer medical reached RMB 1.34 billion (+18.9%), accounting for 44.8%. The share of services in healthcare for people with suboptimal health first surpassed 10%. Yanyuan Medical’s revenue was RMB 330 million, surging 62.2% year over year, becoming a new growth pole. Profitability improved in a step-change: gross margin increased 2.8 percentage points to 49.1%; adjusted net profit margin reached 12.7%, up 2.2 percentage points. Profit growth far outpaced revenue growth, reflecting the effectiveness of refined operations. Net operating cash flow totaled RMB 1 billion (+25.4%). Cash reserves increased 41.6% year over year, providing ample ammunition for M&A expansion and strategic investment. Regional focus delivered notable results: the four first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen contributed over 65% of revenue. The company densely positioned itself in high-end commercial districts, precisely targeting high-net-worth customers in high-tier cities, forming a regional advantage of “driving the wider area through key points.”

Meili Tianyuan is accelerating industry consolidation through M&A. Within two years, it successively acquired Nairy’er, the #2 player in market share, and Si Yaling, the #3 player, building a three-brand matrix of “Meili Tianyuan + Nairy’er + Si Yaling,” with scale economies becoming increasingly apparent. M&A scale reached a new high: in October 2025, the company planned to acquire 100% equity of Si Yaling for RMB 1.25 billion. After it was consolidated in January 2026, the total number of stores exceeded 700, including 289 direct-operated stores and 260 franchised stores, making it the largest high-end aesthetic beauty chain group in China. Integration paths are mature, and synergies are being released: drawing on Nairy’er’s integration experience, it used a “start with back-office integration, elevate consumer medical, and upgrade core business” approach to advance Si Yaling’s integration smoothly. Nairy’er has already established itself in the Greater Bay Area; in 2026 it will move into the Yangtze River Delta. Store revenue and net profit margin have continued to improve, validating the logic behind M&A integration. Scale economies reduce costs and improve efficiency: after the aggregation of the three brands, its purchasing scale broke through the minimum order quantity bottleneck, and it reached a strategic cooperation with Shiseido, driving supply-chain upgrades and cost optimization, further strengthening its high-end pricing power.

Amid “involution” in the industry, Meili Tianyuan firmly stays on a high-end differentiated route, building core barriers with three levers: technology, digitalization, and the supply chain. Holding to a high-end positioning, it delivers gains in both volume and price. As the aesthetic medical industry came under pressure in 2025, the company stuck to competition through technical services and value. High-net-worth customers saw increases in both volume and price; the number of core customers increased by 16%. In the first quarter of 2026 (as of March 24), aesthetic medical revenue grew 24% year over year, validating the resilience of its high-end strategy. It further increased digitalization investment and boosted efficiency with AI. Cumulative investment reached RMB 500 million, forming a digital team of over 100 people, and building more than 40 resource systems. It established three core modules—customer value growth, platform + business divisions, and end-to-end M&A integration—laying the foundation for AI applications and refined operations. It upgraded its supply chain and rolled out global R&D: it reached a strategic cooperation with Shiseido, becoming the exclusive launch platform for its high-end brand Luyue’s first line of stores, connecting the full chain from aesthetic medical restoration to everyday maintenance and care. In the future, it will adopt three models—global curated selection, international brand partnerships, and joint R&D with top-tier laboratories—to strengthen product and service barriers.

Behind rapid growth, Meili Tianyuan also faces multiple challenges that need to be addressed carefully to ensure long-term development. M&A integration risks still exist: Si Yaling is larger and has a longer history, making integration complexity higher than that of Nairy’er. Ongoing investment is needed to release synergy—brand synergy, cultural integration, and store optimization (planned to optimize 20 locations)—with synergy potentially released or delayed by 1–2 years. High-premium M&A creates large goodwill; if performance falls short of expectations, there is a risk of impairment. Franchising management and compliance pressure: franchised stores make up nearly half. Some stores have issues such as inducing consumption and nonstandard fund management. The number of complaints remains high. The model of “the headquarters manages standards and franchisees manage funds” can easily trigger service-quality and compliance risks. Aesthetic medical is under strict regulation on a normalized basis, increasing the difficulty of compliance oversight across 700 stores; a single incident could cause reputational resonance. Challenges in balancing expansion and profitability: in 2026, the company plans to increase brand and digitalization investment, which may affect profit margins in the short term. With rapid store expansion, talent reserves, service standardization, and fine-tuning of single-store profitability models must be advanced in tandem to avoid “prioritizing scale over quality.”

Management has made its position clear: in the future, it will drive progress with a “dual-engine” approach of “organic growth + external M&A.” Organic growth: improve efficiency and empower operations, deeply unlock single-store value. By enhancing operational efficiency through digitalization and AI applications, optimizing management across the full lifecycle of members, and raising both single-store revenue and net profit margin; Nairy’er will accelerate nationwide expansion, while Si Yaling will be optimized and upgraded to release brand potential. External M&A: integrate existing assets and expand when opportunities arise. Relying on a mature M&A system, it will continue to integrate high-quality industry resources and strengthen scale and synergy effects; at the same time, it will tightly control M&A timing and valuations to mitigate risks related to goodwill and debt. Strategic upgrade: “super brand + super chain + super digitalization.” It will deepen high-end brand building, improve its nationwide chain network, rebuild the operating system through digitalization, and create a “super platform” in the beauty industry—guiding the industry to shift from price competition to value competition.

Meili Tianyuan’s strong growth in 2025 performance is a victory for a high-end differentiated strategy and scaled integration. During the industry shakeout period, with its 700-store matrix, strong cash flow, and clear strategy, the company has demonstrated resilience across cycles. Going forward, if it can properly address integration issues, compliance, and the balance between expansion and profitability—while continuously strengthening barriers in technology and digitalization—it is well positioned to further consolidate its oligopolistic position and become a benchmark for high-quality development in China’s beauty industry.

Personal views are for reference only.